Sumitomo Electric Fine Polymer, Inc.

Sumitomo Electric Industries, Limited

Hiromi Kamimura

Yasuhiro Fukumoto

Shingo Harada

Jun Sugawara

Shingo Nakajima

Yoshimasa Suzuki

Kazuhiro Kizawa

Masatoshi Ishikawa

Masahiro Habuka

Naoki Yokota

A fluororesin coating layer fusion-bonded directly to a base member or to a rubber layer on a base member can be formed by conducting heating for a significantly short time. A fluororesin-coated roller or belt that has a fluororesin coating layer with few defects and a rubber layer underneath whose thermal deterioration is suppressed is provided. The production method therefor include a step of inserting a base member or a rubber-coated base member including a base member and at least a rubber layer on the outer peripheral surface of the base member into an empty space of a thermally shrinkable fluororesin tube; a preliminary shrinking step conducted according to need; a pressure fusion-bonding step of bringing the base member or rubber-coated base member into contact with a hot plate surface heated to a temperature in a range of 250&#xb0; C. to 400&#xb0; C. under pressure while rotating the base member or rubber-coated base member so as to fusion-bond the thermally shrinkable fluororesin tube onto the outer peripheral surface of the base member or the rubber-coated base member; and a reheating step and a rapid cooling step that are conducted according to need.

Method for producing fluororesin-coated roller or belt

A method for producing a fixing-unit member including a base, a rubber elastic layer, and a PFA layer includes a step of forming a primer layer by applying a primer containing a low-melting fluorocarbon resin to the outer circumferential surface of a rubber roller having the rubber elastic layer on the outer circumferential surface of the base; a step of sheathing the rubber roller with a thermally shrinkable tube formed by diametrically expanding a PFA tube so as to have an inner diameter more than the outer diameter of the rubber roller; a step of forming the PFA layer from the thermally shrinkable tube by heating the thermally shrinkable tube so as to be thermally shrunken and fused with the rubber roller; and a reheating step of heating the PFA layer to a temperature equal to or higher than the melting point of the PFA contained in the PFA layer.

Method for producing fixing-unit member and fixing-unit member

A fixing roller/fixing belt having an elastic layer and a surface layer formed on a substrate material in the enumerated order, wherein the surface layer is a layer formed by thermally shrinking a PFA tube, and the surface layer and the elastic layer are bonded together through a PFA-containing adhesive material. In particular, a fixing roller/fixing belt in which the ratio of heat shrinkage of the PFA tube forming the surface layer is 3 to 20%. Also, a fixing roller/fixing belt, in which the quantity of PFA contained in the PFA-containing adhesive material is 20 to 30 wt %.

Fixing roller/fixing belt, and process for manufacturing the same

Provided is a fixing belt which has high thermal conductivity capable of achieving an excellent fixing property that can respond to the recent increase in printing speed, which has a proper degree of elasticity such that color toners are sufficiently enveloped so as to be melted and mixed, and which has excellent mechanical strength and durability. A fixing belt includes a tubular base member, an elastic layer disposed on the outer circumferential side of the base member, and a surface layer disposed on a surface on the outer circumferential side of the elastic layer, the fixing belt being characterized in that the elastic layer is composed of rubber into which a filler primarily composed of silicon carbide powder and a carbon nanotube are compounded, and the formulae 10X+3Y&#x3c;750, 3X+30Y&#x3e;170, X&#x3e;10, and Y&#x3e;0.1 are satisfied, where X is the percent by volume of the filler and Y is the percent by volume of the carbon nanotube in the elastic layer.

Fixing belt

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Sennan-gun, Japan

Hiromi Kamimura